MLB to ring bell at NASDAQ on Draft day

By Spencer Fordin / MLB.com

Call it a play on the futures market. Baseball and commerce will combine for an iconic moment Monday, when three Hall of Famers ring in the Draft season on Wall Street.

Former Yankees manager Joe Torre and Hall of Famers Frank Robinson, Tommy Lasorda and Ferguson Jenkins will ring the bell at the NASDAQ stock market on Monday morning, and the First-Year Player Draft will begin later that night at the MLB Network headquarters in Secaucus, N.J.

This will be the third straight season that baseball has rung in the Draft on Wall Street. Torre, who won four World Series titles with the Yankees, was also on hand for the bell-ringing ceremony last year.

"It's a great day for Major League Baseball, and I want to thank the NASDAQ for inviting us to ring the opening bell again," Torre said last year. "It's my first day for the Draft, and it's just a vibe that goes around MLB headquarters. ... It's just infectious what goes on here."

Former All-Star Ron Cey and recent retiree Ivan Rodriguez -- who caught more games than any player in Major League history -- will also be on hand at the Wall Street event.

Robinson, who ranks ninth on the all-time home run list (586), and Torre will attend the ceremonies as representatives of the Commissioner's Office. Lasorda (Dodgers), Jenkins (Cubs), Cey (Dodgers) and Rodriguez (Rangers) will represent their respective teams later on at the Draft.

Live coverage of the 2012 First-Year Player Draft begins with a one-hour preview show on Monday at 6 p.m. ET on MLB.com and MLB Network, followed by the first round and supplemental compensation round. MLB.com will provide exclusive coverage of Days 2 and 3, featuring a live pick-by-pick stream, expert commentary and Draft Tracker, a live interactive application that includes a searchable database of Draft-eligible players. You can also keep up to date at Draft Central and by following@MLBDraft on Twitter, and you can get into the Draft conversation by tagging your tweets with #mlbdraft.

Spencer Fordin is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.